The 11-desoxy anthracycline class of antitumor agents include the very active compounds aclacinomycin, cinerubin, nogalamycin, and those of the bohemic acid complex (musettamycin, marcellomycin, rudolphomycin, alcindoromycin, minimycin, and collinemycin). These compounds have exhibited strong tumor inhibiting properties in several test systems. In particular, aclacinomycin has been shown to be quite non-cardiotoxic even at high doses. We propose to develop a general approach to the synthesis of these molecules which should permit the production of many structural analogues and derivatives. The synthetic approach to these molecules involves the construction of a key tetracyclic intermediate by a Diels-Alder reaction between appropriately substituted components, one of which is a hydroxylated naphthoquinone. The other component can be any of several dienes, including among others a 6-alkoxy-2-pyrone. Studies on this approach and others are continuing.